Health
A Sugar-Free Education:
Surviving College With Type 1 Diabetes (page 1 2)

Related Links:

  • American Diabetes Association - Homepage of the American Diabetes Association, dedicated to curing, caring, and commitment. This is the best place to learn about the new diabetes and heart disease campaign.
  • Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International - This is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International Web site. There is a great section on learning to live life with diabetes. You can also learn how and where to Walk to Cure Diabetes.
  • Lilly Pharmaceuticals - This is Eli Lilly's Web site, a company that attempts to treat depression, schizophrenia, cancer, osteoporosis, and of course, diabetes. There is a link to extensive information on their products.
  • MedTronic MiniMed - This is resource on information about the insulin pump. An extremely informative Web site for patients and families, medical professionals, and health insurance providers.

Other Stories in Health:
By Patrick Dresh
Lifestyles Editor
“My pump provides the freedom that daily injection therapy lacks."

Anyone who has it knows that dealing with Type 1 diabetes can be difficult. There are the strict meal schedules, daily injections, and of course the metallic “twang” taste that accompanies most diet sodas. Imagine though, trying to manage all this in addition to being a full-time college student.

I myself was diagnosed at age 16, and have been diabetic for four years now. I am currently a junior in college and I am as healthy as anyone. However, I do not think I would be doing so well if not for the decision I made in May of 2000 to switch from injection therapy, to the use of the insulin pump. My pump provides the freedom that daily injection therapy lacks. With all the things a student has to worry about while attending college, having trouble fitting your health into your schedule should not be one of them.

Basic Info on the Pump

Before talking about the pump’s advantages, it would be best to talk about it in general. Basically the pump is a “wanna-be” pager. It is a small rectangular electronic device that can be clipped to your belt or hidden on your person in various ways. There are currently two types of commonly used pumps, The Paradigm and the 508. Both of these are manufactured by the Medtronic MiniMed Corporation and are controlled in the same manner. The wearer of the pump sets the constant insulin level (known as a basal) and compensates for carb intake (known as giving a bolus) via two main buttons on the front of either of these pumps. The only major differences between the two is that the 508 is not water proof (the Paradigm is) and the 508 holds 300 units of insulin compared to the Paradigm’s 176.

“Basically the pump is a 'wanna-be' pager. It is a small rectangular electronic device that can be clipped to your belt or hidden on your person in various ways."

The pump delivers insulin from a small reservoir loaded into the back of it which looks a lot like what lab techs draw blood into during a diabetic’s ever exciting tri-monthly blood tests. A small tube, or infusion, is inserted underneath the patient’s skin and is held in place by a connected adhesive patch about the size of a small bandage. (This patch is not permanent; it is changed on a schedule that depends on how many days you can go on the amount of insulin in your reservoir.) Another tube runs from the reservoir to the patch and clips onto the small skin tube almost the same way you plug in a cell phone’s AC adapter.

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Patrick Dresh, a junior journalism/professional writing major, is also the lifestyles section editor for the current edition of unbound. Dresh's professional writing interests include young-adult psychology, relationship psychology, and current Type 1 diabetes research. His other interests include short story writing, illustration, and live-theatre performance.
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